Verbal Sarcasm

 Jayden and I communicate almost entirely via Zoom (I did give my email in case he had any extra questions).  What makes our communication so unique is that I am the only one with the camera on. I honestly cannot recall what his face looks like, however we have made each other laugh on several occasions. What does this about the nature of humor, or more specifically, sarcasm? I'm not entirely sure. Jayden is a very smart kid. His older brother works for a startup in Silicon Valley without graduating college. Jayden possess that same tenacity and raw intelligence. So, our jokes are usually pretty sophisticated.

We make jokes that revolve around the state of the world, school, and humor found in his assignments. Most are sarcastic and rely heavily on the verbal inflections in the punchlines. He will say things like "School was great today, I even got up to brush my teeth during math class." or "My teacher called on me while I was getting a snack, I told him I had to chew on it for awhile and then get back to him with an answer." Jayden's inflections make the jokes come alive. 

I think the importance of sarcasm in Jyden's daily life allow him to make sense and poke fun at the unfortunate situation he finds himself in as a high school freshman. The"sarcasm," he uses "involves constructing or exposing contradictions between intended meanings." His parents work a strict 9-5 and he was unable to return for hybrid learning this semester because of it. Thus he remains completely remotes while his friends syncopate back and forth between remote and in-person instruction. But, he obviously makes the most of it. 

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